Monday, September 9, 2013

“A Belgian writer held hostage for
five months in Syria said that his own rebel captors said that President Bashar
al-Assad was not to blame for the Ghouta massacre.

Pierre Piccinin said that he and fellow hostage Domenico Quirico, an
Italian war reporter, heard their jailers talking about the chemical weapon
attack and saying that Assad was not responsible.
The captives became desperate when they heard that the US was planning to
launch a punitive attack against the regime over the gas attack in the Damascus
suburb.
"It wasn't the government of Bashar al-Assad that used sarin gas or any
other gas in Ghouta," Piccinin told Belgian RTL radio after he was
released.
"We are sure about this because we overheard a conversation between
rebels. It pains me to say it because I've been a fierce supporter of the Free
Syrian Army in its rightful fight for democracy since 2012," Piccinin
added.”